White Washing the NAEP
Shobita Punja
NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND THE NAEP by A.N. Shah Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1980, 245 pp., 65.00
Nov-Dec 1980, volume 5, No 11/12

The articles in this book are written by various authors who deal with nume­rous aspects of the Government National Adult Education Programme of 1978. The book reads as though a group of people are discussing the means of trans­porting a doctor, some suggest that the doctor should be brought by road or by air and yet others are talking of the financial implications. Little is said about the nature of the illness of the patient or the treatment that is required. One wonders what reactions the ‘patient’ (in this case the adult illiterates) would have if they heard what was being said in this book! In recent years numerous books and articles have appeared on the subject of education, process and procedure and government policies. This kind of litera­ture derives much of its inspiration from publications of UNESCO and such agencies.Characteristic of this type of literature is a style that tends to be semi­-academic in presentation, with a verbo­sity that overshadows many practical issues so that no particular political stance is discernable.The relationship of education, politics and culture is of paramount importance. The politics of education determines the approach and methodology of initiating the educational process, of what will be included or excluded in the content of education and the motivation of the learner that is required.

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